Moon Underfoot

by Cole, Bobby

“I said take your shirt off.”

  “You don’t think that I would—” Levi asked in an astonished tone.

  “Take it off, or I’ll rip it off!”

  Levi stared at him in disbelief. He was hurt more than angry. After a few tense moments, he unzipped his jacket and pulled a long-sleeved T-shirt over his head, revealing his bare chest.”

  “Satisfied?”

  “Pants too.”

  “Shit, Moon, I’m your brother!”

  “Half brother, and you proved yesterday that you ain’t got shit for brains.”

  Levi unbuckled his jeans. With a quick downward motion, he dropped them to the floor and stood there in dingy tighty-whities, completely humiliated and praying that Bailey didn’t walk in on them.

  Moon Pie started laughing. It was apparent Levi wasn’t wired.

  “Okay, pull ’em up. In this bidness, paranoia’s healthy. That’s your school-of-hard-knocks lesson today.”

  “You ain’t paranoid, you’re psycho.”

  “Careful with your mouth. You better show me some respect or I’ll give you another black eye. I can’t be too careful. Tomorrow we’re gonna pick up a pile of cash, and a lot could go wrong. I need your mind in the game.”

  “Where we goin’?” Levi asked curiously.

  “They wanted someplace remote. I suggested we meet their moneyman at the Coon Dog Cemetery near Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It’s about halfway, and it’s extremely isolated.”

  “I always wanted to see that place.”

  “It’ll bring a tear to your eye, my li’l half brother. Now get your shit together. Go home, shower, and for God’s sake, put on some clean clothes,” Moon Pie ordered. “We’re gonna make a delivery tonight.”

  CHAPTER 21

  THE ANTIQUE GANG assembled in the library of the Henry Clay Retirement Community. It was dark outside, unseasonably cold, and misting rain. Most of the residents were already in their rooms for the night, so the group had the area to themselves. Two Pizza Inn boxes sat in front of them. Everyone grazed at their leisure, happy that Walter now fed them at every meeting.

  Walter sat nervously bouncing his right leg as he made notes on a legal pad. He was visibly anxious. Kroger’s home-office security team had interviewed him earlier in the day. They were pushing hard for answers. The team had reviewed every frame of the surveillance tape and had a lot of questions for him. It had been an intense meeting. They had homed in on him faster than he expected, but it was obvious they didn’t have enough facts to have him arrested. Walter knew it wasn’t over. They had made that obvious.

  Bailey had been invited to join the group after her grandmother Lucille’s casual mention of the foundation as a response to Bailey’s comment to her about the safe full of cash at the Gold Mine. Knowing two of the three pairs of numbers was the tipping point for Walter’s acceptance.

  Bailey excitedly explained to the group, “My boss will be out of town in two days, and that might make the robbery safer.”

  Walter and company listened intently, and their eyes darted nervously as they considered what she was saying.

  “He’s always armed to the teeth, and even on the two times a year when he goes to church with his momma, he carries two pistols. Nobody else in the store will be armed, though,” she finished, as if that should be the deciding factor.

  “Easter and Mother’s Day?” Bernard asked, already knowing.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Bailey, we aren’t going to bust in there and stick the place up like a bank robbery,” Walter explained.

  Bailey looked puzzled, but the other members of the group looked relieved.

  “Somebody could get hurt, and frankly I doubt that our hearts could take the stress.”

  “I just assumed…that’s the way—”

  “No. We’re going to break in after-hours and steal the contents of the safe,” Walter explained, cutting her off. The gang members smiled. Burglary sat better with them than armed robbery.

  “But the place has an alarm system that Moon Pie arms every night,” Bailey said, concerned.

  “We’ll need to know specifics about it, but when I looked around a few days ago, I didn’t see any motion sensors in the main room.”

  “The windows and doors are wired for sure. I’ve heard the alarm go off by accident; it’s really loud. He sets it sometimes when we’re counting money. He’s paranoid.”

  “He couldn’t move around if it had motion detectors, unless he has a high-tech system that can be set to different modes and zones.”

  “It looks pretty basic to me, but I don’t really know,” Bailey said.

  “I think I have a solution for the alarm, but we still gotta get in the safe. I’ve been researching it. It takes a six-digit security code. If you don’t get it in three or four tries, it shuts down for, like, thirty minutes,” Walter explained as he placed on the table the printed camera-phone pictures of Moon Pie’s office, alarm keypad, and safe. “Bailey took these. They’ve been extremely helpful.”

  Bailey smiled. It had been a long time since anyone other than her grandmother had praised her, and everyone could sense her appreciation.

  Walter said, “Okay, gang—here’s my idea.”

  Everyone inched a bit closer as their heart rates escalated. They all felt so incredibly alive. The collective energy was palpable. Tomorrow, when and if their sons and daughters called to check on them, casually asking, “What’s new? Anything exciting going on?” each would smile and say, “Nothin’. Not much.” In fact, however, they all would have spent hours the evening before planning a burglary expected to net them $300,000, and it was, in fact, their second major crime within a month.

  Walter continued, “Tomorrow I’ll order several balloons to be delivered to Bailey at work. Bailey, you’ll need to place them near a vent—in the office would be great—and then forget them when you leave work. We’ll find out pretty quickly if the place has motion sensors when everyone’s gone for the day and the heater turns on. Bernard, get two flat, very thin magnets, and paint one white and one off-white. And get a bottle of Krazy Glue. Then the day before we break in, Bailey will glue the correct-colored magnet over the magnetic sensor in the top of the doorframe. It looks like a little black dot. That should trick the system into thinking the door’s closed when they set it, and it won’t go off when we open it.”

  “How do we do that?” Sebastian asked.

  “Bailey’s gotta get us a copy of the key—somehow. Think of something.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “What about the rest of the safe combination?” Lucille questioned.

  “I’m working on it. People generally use passwords and numbers that involve birthdays, hobbies, interests, important dates, and things they like. The combinations are endless, and I’m trying to nail down the obvious first. We know he is a football fan and more specifically a Manning fan. He has framed pictures of Eli, Archie, and Peyton displayed in his office.”

  Bailey nodded her head excitedly. “He talks about ’em all the time, especially Peyton, and if either Eli or Peyton’s playin’ on TV, he’s watching.”

  “I’m betting the last number in the code is ten, sixteen, or eighteen.”

  “Their jersey numbers?” Bernard offered.

  “You betcha,” Walter said in his nasal Minnesotan accent.

  “There’s at least six combinations of those numbers, if Bailey’s numbers don’t work. And we don’t know how often he changes the combination. Bailey’s numbers could be good today but not tomorrow,” Bernard stated after he quickly computed the possibilities.

  “True, so we’ll need to get his birthday too,” Walter said to Bailey, who nodded her understanding.

  “He’s a big hunter too. But I don’t know what numbers work with huntin’,” Bernard noted. He had studied the photos Bailey had secretly taken of everything in Moon Pie’s office and the store, and of his truck tag.

  “Bailey, while he’s gone out of town, I’ll give you some number sequences to try.
If you can start trying the combinations, it would be helpful. I’ll print them out so you can mark them off. I’m hoping it’s something simple. Without the combination, we’re dead in the water.”

  “I’ll do it,” Bailey responded positively.

  “Good girl. That way if one of those doesn’t work, Lucille and Sebastian can work on another set of combinations. Birthdays, important dates, phone-number prefixes.”

  “I may can trick his half brother, Levi, into telling me…he’s kinda sweet on me,” Bailey said.

  “He’s a cutie pie,” Lucille instantly replied, and Bailey blushed, although no one noticed except Lucille.

  “No, I don’t like that idea. He’ll be suspicious after the money vanishes. You don’t need anything pointin’ back at you,” Walter explained.

  “Let’s just get a blowtorch and cut it open,” Sebastian suggested excitedly.

  “Not there. That would set off the smoke alarm,” Walter responded quickly. He didn’t want Sebastian losing focus at the thought of getting to break out the power tools.

  Sensing what was going on, Lucille jumped in excitedly to change the subject. “When do you think we’ll try?”

  “This Saturday night might be good. It’s opening weekend of deer season, and any hunter worth his salt will be at his camp, or at the very least going to bed early. It’s a tradition that’s played out from here to Minnesota, and I’m willing to bet Mr. Daniels will be somewhere other than at work, so we’ll have time to do what we need to do.”

  “That’s pretty soon,” Bernard said, as if he had plans for Saturday night.

  “We ain’t gettin’ any younger,” Walter shot back.

  “That’s true,” Bernard responded, nodding his head.

  “Besides, what else were you doing Saturday night?”

  “Nothing—except now, I guess I’m committin’ a felony.”

  “We’re all in, then,” Lucille said emphatically, with a big smile.

  CHAPTER 22

  MOON PIE WAS driving as he and Levi headed south from Columbus. They were listening to a CD of Hank Williams Jr.’s greatest hits.

  Levi knew something was going to happen tonight. Moon Pie always used Hank to get himself worked up for a job, like an athlete pumping up before a game. Levi searched for something to talk about. He saw an envelope on the dash and grabbed it.

  “See that FedEx logo?” Levi asked.

  “Yeah, I’m not blind.”

  “But do you see the arrow in the logo?”

  “The what?”

  Levi held up the envelope so Moon Pie could see it better, “In the second E. The arrow that’s pointing to the right?”

  “Huh? Yeah, I see it.”

  “Pretty creative, ain’t it?”

  “You notice some weird shit, man.”

  Levi wanted to ask where they were meeting the drug drop but decided to keep quiet for a while. He was just happy to be around Moon Pie and even happier to be out of jail. Full of nervous energy, he checked the glove box and console for pistols. He found several and worked the actions of the different semiautomatics, admiring their precision. One had laser grips, which fascinated him. When he held it in firing position, the red laser turned on, reflecting off the windshield.

  “Those are sweet, huh?” Moon Pie offered as more of a comment than a question.

  “Hell yeah. I’m guessin’ that anybody that’s got that red dot on their chest gets an immediate attitude adjustment.”

  “If they’re looking at you, they immediately know the deal. But if you’re at a distance and it’s daylight and they don’t know you’re there…they may not see the dot. That’s frustrating,” Moon Pie stated flatly, with firsthand knowledge.

  “If you ever saw it, though, it’d scare the shit outta ya!”

  “That’s what I thought. Once while I was hid in the woods where the guy that killed Reese lives, I saw him messing around with some duck decoys in the back of his truck. Anyway, I was about seventy-five yards out, and I lasered him in the chest, hoping he’d see it and freak out…but he never did.”

  “Maybe he’s color-blind?”

  “Could be. I think he just didn’t notice it. I wanna kill him bad, but I gotta wait. I’ve been screwin’ with him off and on for a while, but some things I think he notices and others I don’t know.”

  “Like what?”

  “Just subtle shit that would mess with his mind. I’ve rubbed streaks of blood on his truck windows a couple times.”

  “He had to see that.”

  “Ya’d think. I mailed him an article about that night from the newspaper, and I burned the edges.”

  “Is it gettin’ to be time to keep your promise to Reese?”

  “Maybe. Patience pays, Grasshoppar. Besides, I want that sumbitch to suffer—mentally, you know?” Moon Pie’s eyes were fixed on the road ahead. “I’m not in a rush. I haven’t decided just how I’m gonna do it. Kill him…kill his wife…take the kid…kill him and the kid and then take his hot wife for a while? I ain’t done anything just yet because I know I’ll be the first on the cops’ short list of suspects. I ain’t as stupid as you look.”

  “Low under the radar’s good,” Levi commented as he watched some headlights behind them. They’d been back there for a while, and paranoia was creeping in. They were driving on a desolate two-lane road that went down the west side of the Tombigbee River toward Aliceville, Alabama.

  “We got company,” Moon Pie said. “Don’t turn around. Use the side mirror. They’ve been followin’ us since Columbus.”

  Moon Pie’s heavily modified black Toyota FJ Cruiser had every accessory Toyota offered, plus a Warn winch, KC HiLites, and Buckshot radial mudders. It was quiet, almost impossible to get stuck in the mud, and very easy to maneuver—an outlaw’s dream machine. In the rear, hanging under the trailer hitch, was a set of red Truck Nutz that looked like giant bull testicles. Moon Pie smiled every time he saw them.

  “Who you think it is?” Levi asked.

  “That’s a stupid question. It’s the law. Gotta be. We don’t need ’em—not tonight with this drop and especially not tomorrow.”

  “Whatcha gonna do?”

  “Text Smitty and tell him tonight’s meet’s off. Tell him we got company.”

  Levi’s thumbs went into action. He could text faster than he could talk.

  “We’ll head to Aliceville and figure out if it’s the law actually followin’ us.”

  “Then what?”

  Moon Pie was growing aggravated with the questions. “That’ll depend on them,” Moon Pie said, jerking his thumb toward the car behind them.

  CHAPTER 23

  WHEN THE TELEPHONE rang, Jake, completely startled, sat up in bed. His thoughts were murky as he looked at the alarm clock. It glowed 3:55. The phone rang again and snapped him out of it.

  “Hello?”

  “Mr. Jake Crosby?”

  Jake cleared his throat and answered, “Yes, yes it is.”

  Morgan rolled over to listen.

  “This is Rosco Blue with the Pickens County Sheriff’s Department.”

  “Yes, sir?” Jake sat up in the bed.

  “I’m sorry to call you so early, but I got some bad news.”

  “What? What is it?” Jake asked, now wide-awake.

  “Yo’ camp house down here on Pumpkin Creek has burned down.”

  “What!”

  “I just left there. It’s a total loss. The volunteer fire department couldn’t do much. It went off like fat wood.”

  “Burned? I…what happened?” Jake was trying to get his mind around what he was hearing.

  “What’s wrong?” Morgan asked with a feeling of déjà vu. Jake held up his hand.

  “We got a call ’bout midnight from a tugboat captain, and by the time we got a fire truck down there, the structure was totally consumed. I’m sorry.”

  “Good grief,” Jake said in disbelief.

  “At least no one was injured.”

  “How’d it start?”
/>   “We don’t know. It’s been drizzlin’ rain here all night.”

  “Lightnin’ maybe?” Jake offered, trying to make sense of the news.

  “I doubt it, but NOAA weather can let us know if there was any strikes associated with that band of rain. I’m really sorry to call so early, but I figured that iffin it was mine, I’d want to know.” Sheriff Blue tried to sound empathic, but his true motivation was to establish if Jake was home at the time of the fire and to gauge his reaction to the news. He suspected arson, but he didn’t want to mention this just yet. He continued, “We’ll check into it later this mornin’. The fire marshal will look it over. It’s all standard procedure.”

  Jake was still stunned. “I don’t know what to say. What do I…what do you need me to do?”

  “Can you come down this mornin’ and fill out some paperwork?”

  “Yeah, sure. Absolutely.”

  “You’re in West Point, right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Well, don’t leave now. Just be down here midmornin’ if you can. My office is in downtown Aliceville. Just ask anybody. I’m the sheriff.”

  “Yes, sir. Okay, I’ll be there.” Jake didn’t know whether to thank him or just hang up. He hung up the telephone, and Morgan rapid-fired questions at him. He stared straight ahead. After a moment, Jake said, “That was the Pickens County sheriff. The camp house caught fire and burned down tonight. The sheriff said it’s a total loss.”

  Morgan rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and started fresh with more unanswerable questions. Jake finally held up his hand and asked her to stop so he could ask one very important question.

  “Please tell me you paid the insurance on the camp house.”

  CHAPTER 24

  THE GERIATRIC GANGSTERS were eating breakfast at the local Mennonite bakery, and no one was counting calories. Now that the group had access to other people’s money, they were eating out at every opportunity. They weren’t spending big bucks, but they weren’t eating canned soup and oatmeal as regularly as before. Today they were all a bit jumpy in anticipation of the Gold Mine burglary.